Transcript

. . . in the Spring of 1850 Father started for the Vaqlliesm [valleys] of the mountains as a teamster for a merchant by the name of Livingston. . . .

He arrived in Salt Lake in early Oct. . . .

So we went to work and in two weeks we had a wagon done and fitted out ready to start. The water on the Missouri was so high that we had to lay by till in the month of Jun. 1851. We started with two wagons and provisions for the journey. I had on my wagon one yoke of four year old steers on the tongue, and two yoke of cows, and one yoke of two year old steers foe leaders.

Brother Ashton on his wagon one yoke of eight year old oxen on the tongue and one yoke of cows and one yoke of three year old stears for leaders. The number of persons traveling with us in the two wagons were eight souls consisting of my mother, myself, Bro. Ashton, and my cousin [Araminta Lawrence] who was his wife, my sister Barbara, Joseph and Mary Ashton, and sister Sarah's baby John that mother had the care of. We crossed the Missouri River on the 27th day of Jun and traveled to a place called Six Mile Grove where the Saints had collected to organize in companies of sixty wagons under a good captain whose name was Morris Phelps. The Elkhorn [Elk Horn] and Loupfork [Loup Fork] rivers were reported to be so high that, we could not cross and authorities thought we would gain time to make a new road to the head of the streams so we traveled some two hundred miles out of our way over sandy roads and gained nothing but experience.

I had to leave an ox after I had traveled 150 miles which seemed a great loss and there was yet about a thousand miles to travel to the end of our journey but I put a cow at the side of the other ox and rolled on. The Lord blessed us with good strength and we arrived in Great Salt Lake City the 27th day of Sep. 1851, all well nearly tired out, both us and our teams.